The electoral justice of Brazil orders to withdraw the video in which Bolsonaro attacks the electronic ballot boxes before the ambassadors

President Bolsonaro, candidate for re-election, during a rally this Wednesday in Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais. DOUGLAS MAGNO (AFP)

New chapter in the hard fight between President Jair Bolsonaro and the Brazilian Judiciary.

The electoral justice has ordered this Wednesday that the video of the official meeting in which the president detailed his suspicions about the electronic ballot boxes before foreign ambassadors accredited in Brasilia be withdrawn in the next 24 hours from Facebook, YouTube, the rest of social networks and the state television channel ECB.

The judge of the Superior Electoral Court who signs the ruling maintains that the words of the president before dozens of foreign diplomats, a month ago, "seem to configure abuse in the exercise of freedom of expression."

The magistrate adds in his argument that the content of that appearance may affect the development of the elections, called for October 2, by "disseminating false information" regarding the voting system.

There are about 40 days left for Brazil to elect a president, deputies, senators and governors in addition to the state chambers.

The decision of the Electoral Justice takes place in the middle of the electoral campaign and the day after the same court ordered to search the houses of eight Bolsonaro businessmen suspected of participating in a private chat in which coup messages were exchanged.

The Brazilian press maintains that the operation aims to prevent the financing of acts in favor of an institutional rupture on September 7, when Brazil celebrates the bicentennial of its independence and the far-right has encouraged his followers to demonstrate in Rio de Janeiro.

Legal specialists consulted by the Brazilian press believe that the judges may have exceeded in this case.

(The climax of the celebrations is the public display in Brasilia of the heart of Emperor Pedro I, who made Brazil independent. Portugal has lent the relic.)

The pulse between the President of the Republic and the judges has been going on for a long time.

It's peppered with clashes that raise the tension, which then subsides until the next onslaught.

Last week, coinciding with the beginning of the electoral campaign of the most polarized elections in recent times, the highest representatives of the three powers met in Brasilia for the inauguration of the new president of the Superior Electoral Court.

Bolsonaro, as head of state, presided over the ceremony, which was attended by Lula da Silva and other former presidents.

The leftist leads all polls so far.

That act was considered as a sign that "Brazil's institutions are solid and committed to the rule of law," Supreme Judge Jose Antonio Dias Toffoli said days later, along with two ministers from the Bolsonaro government and the president of the Senate. in a forum organized by Esfera Brasil, a

created by big businessmen.

What made Bolsonaro's meeting with the ambassadors unprecedented is that he summoned them to detail his doubts about the voting process and attack the electoral authorities.

And the one that distinguished that from the rest of the forums in which the president has aired his unfounded theories in recent months that the voting system is not absolutely safe and that there is a risk of fraud was the audience, foreign diplomats.

Precisely the same ones that days before the electoral court had summoned to explain in detail how the electronic ballot boxes work.

The electronic ballot box system with which Brazil has been voting for a quarter of a century is one of the central issues of the October 2 elections.

Bolsonaro is in a campaign that he presents as in favor of the cleanliness and transparency of the elections, which for his critics is an effort aimed at undermining the credibility of the electronic ballot boxes to be able to contest the result in case of defeat.

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